Crude oil prices ease after gains on stock draw

Feb. 28 (UPI) -- Crude oil prices eased Thursday morning following gains Wednesday that were fueled by news of a reduction in stocks, an analyst said.

West Texas Intermediate future prices were 0.2 percent lower at $56.85 per barrel as of 8:54 a.m. EST, while Brent futures fell 0.4 per cent to $66.31 per barrel at the same time.

WTI prices closed Wednesday at $56.94 per barrel, near its highest level this year at $57.26 per barrel on Friday.

"The price of U.S. crude oil eased back gently Thursday, reducing some of Wednesday's gains caused largely by news of a plunge in U.S. crude inventories," Martin Essex, a Daily FX analyst, told UPI.

"Calls by U.S. President Donald Trump for OPEC to ease its restrictions on output should limit gains, even though they were rejected by Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih, who said OPEC and its partners were 'taking it easy,'" Essex added.

OPEC countries are contemplating extending the accord on production cuts until the end of the year, according to reports that attribute this to the Saudi minister. The accords was for a reduction of 800,000 barrels per day by OPEC starting Jan. 1, matched by another 400,000 barrels per day cut by some non-OPEC participants.

U.S. commercial crude oil inventories, excluding those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, decreased by 8.6 million barrels from the previous week. The total is 446 million barrels.

Total motor gasoline and distillate inventories also declined.

Oil prices fell early Monday after a tweet by Trump warning OPEC about high prices. The effects of Trump's early Monday tweet, and expectation of another, have had an influence in the trading mood this week, traders have said.